Fuel maintenance monitor for a plug-in hybrid vehicle
First Claim
1. A vehicle comprising:
- an engine;
a fuel tank configured to supply fuel to the engine;
an electric machine;
a traction battery electrically connected with the electric machine;
a controller configured to selectively operate the engine, during one or more drive cycles, until a specified fraction of fuel from the tank has been consumed in response to expiration of a predefined time period to limit degradation of the fuel; and
a user interface in communication with the controller and configured to provide user selection of electric-only operation of the vehicle;
wherein the controller is further configured to disable user selection of electric-only mode when selectively operating the engine, during the one or more drive cycles, until the specified fraction of fuel from the tank has been consumed.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle has an engine, a fuel tank, and a controller configured to selectively operate the engine, during one or more drive cycles, until a specified fraction of fuel from the tank has been consumed in response to expiration of a predefined time period to limit fuel degradation. A powertrain system has a traction battery, an engine, a fuel tank, and a controller configured to selectively operate the engine in response to a quality of fuel in the tank being below a threshold until a specified fraction of fuel has been consumed, thereby limiting fuel degradation. A method of controlling a vehicle includes, in response to expiration of a predefined time period, selectively operating an engine, during one or more vehicle drive cycles, such that state of charge of a traction battery is generally maintained until a specified fraction of fuel in a fuel tank has been consumed to limit degradation of the fuel.
13 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A vehicle comprising:
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an engine; a fuel tank configured to supply fuel to the engine; an electric machine; a traction battery electrically connected with the electric machine; a controller configured to selectively operate the engine, during one or more drive cycles, until a specified fraction of fuel from the tank has been consumed in response to expiration of a predefined time period to limit degradation of the fuel; and a user interface in communication with the controller and configured to provide user selection of electric-only operation of the vehicle; wherein the controller is further configured to disable user selection of electric-only mode when selectively operating the engine, during the one or more drive cycles, until the specified fraction of fuel from the tank has been consumed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of controlling a hybrid vehicle comprising:
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in response to a controller determining expiration of a predefined time period, selectively operating an engine via the controller, during one or more vehicle drive cycles, to generally maintain a traction battery state of charge until a specified fraction of fuel in a tank is consumed to limit fuel degradation; and disabling user selection of electric-only vehicle operation via the controller after the period expires.
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Specification